Overview
- Electron lifted off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 10:09 p.m. Eastern on Dec. 13 and deployed the satellite to a 540‑kilometer sun‑synchronous orbit about 55 minutes later.
- JAXA’s RAISE-4 carries eight technology demonstrations, including propulsion and communications experiments and a drag sail to aid deorbiting.
- The spacecraft had been slated to fly on Japan’s Epsilon‑S, which remains grounded after a 2022 failure and subsequent solid‑motor test setbacks.
- The mission marked Rocket Lab’s 19th launch of 2025 as the company reshuffles its manifest, with KAIST’s ‘Bridging the Swarm’ targeted for Dec. 15–16 and a Wallops flight planned this month, which trade reports identify as the STP‑S30 mission featuring Aerospace Corporation’s DiskSat.
- Rocket Lab holds a two‑launch agreement with JAXA, with a second dedicated Electron carrying eight cubesats planned for early 2026, and it also plans a dedicated European Space Agency launch next year.